|
September 22, 2023
President Obama must address Sudan at the UN General Assembly
Huffington Post - by Jerry Fowler and signed on by Dismas Nkunda on behalf of the Darfur Consortium
While President Barack Obama will speak to a number of pressing global issues when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow, one topic he cannot neglect is Sudan. The President should seize the opportunity to build international support for policies to protect the human rights of all Sudanese and promote lasting peace in the country.
The stakes are significant. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, surrounded by nine other states which are, in one way or another, affected by its instability and insecurity. It is a bridge between the African and Arab worlds and a key to the balance of both. As leaders of advocacy coalitions in the United States, Africa and the Arab World, we see Sudan as a test of the Obama administration's strategy of multilateralism and America's ability to use its influence to champion human rights, resolve conflicts, and prevent mass atrocities.
Read the op-ed here.
December 2, 2022
Report - “Rhetoric vs. Reality–the Situation in Darfur”
(New York, December 2, 2022) – Recent claims by the Sudanese government that the situation in Darfur is improving are not borne out by reality, fifteen organizations said in a report released today. In an effort to bolster their argument that the U.N. Security Council should suspend the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) consideration of an arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir, Sudan has contended that there have been serious improvements in Darfur. The ICC prosecutor is scheduled to brief the Security Council on December 3, 2008, about the progress of his investigation.
In stark contrast to Khartoum’s claims, the 22 page report, “Rhetoric vs. Reality–the Situation in Darfur,” prepared by a coalition of nongovernmental organizations—including the Save Darfur Coalition, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch—documents the lack of progress in Darfur in recent months regarding security, the humanitarian situation, the deployment of peacekeepers and domestic justice.
Continue to full press release here.
Read the report in English here.
Read the press release in French here.
Read the report in French here.
November 26, 2022
Letter
The Justice for Darfur campaign urges support for the work of the ICC in Darfur
On December 3, 2008, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo will
present his report to the United Nations Security Council on the ICC’s work on the situation in Darfur. The Justice for Darfur campaign, including 48 organizations from around the world, urges you to take
this opportunity to express your government’s support for the ICC’s vital work in Darfur.
Read the letter here.
Read the letter in French here.
July 14, 2023
Press release
Request for Darfur arrest warrants challenges impunity
The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Omar Hassan Al-Bashir could be a major step towards combating impunity associated with the horrific crimes in Darfur, according to several human rights groups from around the world.
Today’s move comes after three years of investigation by the prosecutor and his team. In accordance with ICC procedure, the evidence gathered has been submitted to judges in the Pre-Trial Chamber who will then decide whether to issue arrest warrants on the basis of that information.
Read the full press release here.
July 14
Wall Street Journal
Sudan President to face Darfur charges; move could incite more violent acts; tough path to trial
An ICC indictment would restrict Mr. Bashir's travel and could "curtail his ability to commit more crimes," says Dismas Nkunda, chairman of the aid-group coalition Darfur Consortium in Kampala, Uganda. But he also says that Mr. Bashir has the financial and political means to stay put and ignore the court.
Read the full article here.
July 1-3: 9th African Union Heads of State Summit in Accra
Masekela brings message for people of Darfur to jazz fest
(July 19, 2023) THE SOLD-OUT crowd for Hugh Masekela’s concert in the Mainstage Tent on Monday night at the TD Canada Trust Atlantic Jazz Festival was on its feet and cheering even before the legendary South African trumpeter and champion of the oppressed played a single note.They were there for the fun side of Masekela, for the hop and rhythm of Grazing in the Grass and other pop hits with their gratifying musical whiffs of the South African townships, of reggae and Brazilian tango. And he obliged. By the end of the second song — and they were long songs with the kind of repetition that bears many repeats because the conga, drum and keyboard accents make it impossible to sit still — a quarter to a third of the crowd were dancing in front of the stage.
Read the article here.
Musicians for African Union Government
GNA | Tuesday, July 03, 2023
South African musician, Hugh Masekela, has declared that the attainment of African Union government would be pointless if African leaders do not take steps to stem the genocide and other human right violations in Darfur and elsewhere.
He noted that Africans needed to see themselves as one state and therefore consider the boundaries dividing them as imaginary. With that in mind, he said, the ongoing African Union (AU) Summit in Accra should focus on measures to stop recalcitrant African leaders like Omar Basher and the evil Janjaweed from perpetrating genocide in Darfur.
Read the article here.
Darfur: Test case for African Union
(June 28, 2023) Civil Rights activists hoping to raise the shameful tragedy of the Darfur Region as a test case for African Unity and a serious blight on the will of collective Africa to protect its own, have asked African leaders not to spare the rod on Sudanese leader Omar Al-Bashir.
The activists, guests on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, told host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah that the Darfur case, already a good example of how wicked governments could be against their own people, should be good grounds for AU leaders at their July Summit to bring Al-Bashir and his blood-spewing militias to book or at worst, expel him to go clean his house.
Read the article here.
June 23, 2023
Statement by Sudanese women rights groups on the arrest of Zobida and Zahra Hagar and the 9-months old Hashim Abdel-Shakur
We, the undersigned from women civil society organization, have grave concerns for the welfare of Zubaida Hagar Sandal, her 9-month-old baby son, Hashim Abdel-Shakur and her sister Zahara Hagar. The two women and the baby were arrested on June 8, 2008, from their house in Khartoum by National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers.
Our solidarity with Zubaida, her son and her sister comes from our concern for their safety and being held at unknown location, which is regarded as an enforced disappearance. We are opposed to their continued detention, which is illegal and is against all Sudanese traditions. In addition, we have serious concerns for their well-being as for other female detainees. This is especially alarming in light of recent campaign of arrests in the capital following May 10 events, which has taken place in house-to-house searches, public transport and the streets, targeting individuals from Darfur who are residents in Khartoum.
Read the full statement here.
A concert and a heart for Darfur
(on the margins of the AU Summit)
- Is'haq Modibbo Kawu (who was in Accra, Ghana)
The setting was the Paloma Hotel, in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. The date: the 26th of June, 2007. The city of Accra itself was festooned with colours; the national colours of green, gold and red, were the dominant colours around trees, in public buildings, bill boards and in miniaturized sizes in taxis and other means of public transportation. The pictures of Africans Heads of State also appeared on the streets. Accra is at the heart of the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence, and it is the host of the "Unity Conference" of the African Union, the AU.
Read the article here.
June 22, 2023
8 UN agencies warn of an imminent famine in Darfur
As the people of Darfur face the annual hunger gap — the period leading up to the
harvest in October — the humanitarian community in Sudan is warning that limited time
remains to safeguard against an increasingly precarious situation.
Underlying this potential crisis is the continued insecurity in the region, which led to an
additional 180,000 being displaced from their homes in the first five months of 2008.
Attacks on the UN World Food Programme convoys have seriously delayed the delivery
of food aid to Darfur culminating in a cut in the general food ration of more than 40
percent since May. At least 2.7 million people will be affected by a reduction for at
least the next two months.
Read the full statement here.
Darfur Bar Association writes to H. E. Ambassador Liu Guijin,
Special Representative of the Chinese Government on the Darfur Issue in Khartoum
March 4, 2023
Extract from the letter:
"It is disturbing that these abhorrent crimes are being systematically committed by
the Government of Sudan in Darfur and that members of the international community
including your Government are fully aware of the extent and magnitude of these crimes.
The atrocities committed in Darfur were recognized by your Government in many ways
and on a number of occasions including deliberations at the UN Security Council."
Read the letter here.
Country to sit on AU Peace, Security Council
The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
31 January 2023
By James Muyanwa
ZAMBIA and nine other countries have been elected as members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council for the next five-years, amid challenges of conflicts in various parts of the continent.
The 10 countries representing five African regions were elected here during the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU at the commission headquarters.
Read the article in which Dismas Nkunda, Chair of the Consortium, is quoted here.
New AU Peace and Security Council Members elected
(January 30, 2023, Addis Ababa) Ten countries have been elected as Members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union yesterday at the end of the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU here at the headquarters of the African Union Commission, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to an AU press release, drawn from the five regions of the continent, the newly appointed member countries of the PSC are: Burundi and Chad (Central Africa), Rwanda and Uganda (Eastern Africa), Tunisia (Northern Africa), Swaziland and Zambia (Southern Africa) as well as Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali (Western Africa).
Read the article here.
SUDAN: civic groups reject nation’s bid to head the African Union
(January 25, 2023) A bid by the Sudanese government to seek headship of the African Union (AU) has met with stiff resistance from human rights advocates.
Dismas Nkunda, spokesman for Darfur Consortium, a grouping of over 50 activist organizations working to end the suffering in Darfur, said it would be a huge blow to the credibility of the AU and its capacity to respond independently to the crisis if Khartoum was elected to chair the continental body
"How can the AU maintain a credible leadership role in the ongoing peace negotiations if it is headed by a party to the conflict? Tensions between Chad and Sudan are also escalating. The AU needs a leadership which can mediate independently," Nkunda said in statement.
Read the full press article here.
|
